Woman recovering after crash with semi

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — It’s about the little victories, right?

Traci Wickham’s small win was being able to make it up the short flight of stairs leading to Scotus Central Catholic’s gymnasium where her daughter was playing in a basketball tournament recently.

The Columbus Telegram reports (http://bit.ly/VmBWIJ ) that making it up the steps is actually a pretty huge step for Wickham, whose van was T-boned by a semitrailer at the junction of highways 81 and 30 the morning of Dec. 11.

Wickham had just dropped off her children when her vehicle was struck, and she would need a pair of multi-hour surgeries to repair heavy organ damage and reposition her left leg, which had gone through her pelvis. Her children were the first thing she asked about when emergency teams recovered her from the crumpled Toyota minivan.

“That’s all I could think about. It was just the first thing that came to mind,” she said, not whether she would walk again or if there was any way to put her internal organs back where they ought to be, many of them having been pushed into her chest by the impact.

She credits the Columbus Community Hospital team for making the call to air lift her to Creighton Medical Center in Omaha within an hour of receiving her. Wickham doubts she would be recovering as well had they not made that call quickly.

Still, discussing the accident and her recovery, Wickham focuses more on how it’s affected her family than what she’s gone through. She said her children and spirituality were an enormous source of strength as she was recovering.

“A lot of it is being a mom and having three kids at home who need both parents,” Wickham said. “Through my faith, I know I’m in God’s hands.”

“And, I just wanted to prove the doctors wrong,” she added with a laugh.

These days, Wickham’s getting better through regular physical therapy sessions to improve her mobility and flexibility.

Between neighbors volunteering to cook dinner a few nights a week and her husband Sean’s willingness to pick up a few extra chores around the house, life at her home on White Tail Lake is regaining some normalcy.

She said there are still issues sleeping and managing intermittent episodes of pain. Wickham is getting around with the help of a walker and wheelchair.

But when she’s ready, she’ll get back to work as a pharmaceutical sales representative, and maybe later she’ll get back to volunteering at her children’s schools and organizing meetings for Compassionate Friends, a support group for parents who, like the Wickhams, have lost a child.

But, in the immediate future, she’s just looking for her next small win.

“There’s a ski trip in March — and I know I’m not going to be skiing — but I just want to spend that time together with my family,” Wickham said.